This workshop material is adapted from On the Cutting Edge, a professional development program for current and future geoscience faculty.
Part 1.1 What are the course contexts and constraints
Teaching a course involves making choices about what you will ask your students to do and why. External factors such as context of the course, student demography, and support structure are significant and should influence the choices that you will make as you design your course. Consider the external factors that influence a course and explain why these factors are important to consider before you begin to set realistic goals for the students in your course. Start by choosing a course or a portion of a course to work on.
Task 1.1a: How will your course work?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Prepares students for a common exam-Pre requisite for Year 10Wide Mathematical ability range of students. Students from different backgrounds have different knowledge base and different motivation levels. Classes taught by teachers with variety of teaching experiences and views on methods of teaching plus different facilities.
Applications for science and upper levels of maths;Helps the understanding the relationships between variables
Prerequisites-Basic algebraic manipulation.
Speed at which students develop understanding of concepts is a challenge reulting in behavioural management when students are bored Some opportunities to extend the faster students with modelling and problem solving
Time-3 weeks Mixed, all access to data projector, limited access to computers.
Challenges: Diversity of facilies
Opportunities:Extended learning tasks for some students
Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it? Some -Learning Objects/Scootle Challenges: Infrastructure (network), Guaranteed access to computers Opportunities:Extend more able students, help with behaviour management What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times? 4 times per week
Challenges:
Opportunities:
Task 1.1b: Who are your students, and what do they need?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support?
All three Challenges:
.Producing teaching which enables lower ability students to learn while keeping gifted students challenged and interested
Opportunities:
In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future? Related to real life problems
Challenges: .
Opportunities: What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity?
Same age, approx half male, half female, race/ethnicity not really relevent Challenges: Opportunities:
What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home?
99% Challenges:
Opportunities: Can access technology resources from home
Task 1.1c: What is the support structure for your course?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are you the default computer troubleshooter, or do students and staff have other support people to turn to if they run into difficulty with a computer problem related to your course? No, The students have access to other support people. Challenges: Opportunities:
Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students? very limited
Challenges:
Part 1.1 What are the course contexts and constraints
Teaching a course involves making choices about what you will ask your students to do and why. External factors such as context of the course, student demography, and support structure are significant and should influence the choices that you will make as you design your course. Consider the external factors that influence a course and explain why these factors are important to consider before you begin to set realistic goals for the students in your course. Start by choosing a course or a portion of a course to work on.
Task 1.1a: How will your course work?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Prepares students for a common exam-Pre requisite for Year 10Wide Mathematical ability range of students. Students from different backgrounds have different knowledge base and different motivation levels. Classes taught by teachers with variety of teaching experiences and views on methods of teaching plus different facilities.
Applications for science and upper levels of maths;Helps the understanding the relationships between variablesPrerequisites-Basic algebraic manipulation.
Speed at which students develop understanding of concepts is a challenge reulting in behavioural management when students are bored
Some opportunities to extend the faster students with modelling and problem solving
Time-3 weeks
Mixed, all access to data projector, limited access to computers.
Challenges: Diversity of facilies
Opportunities:Extended learning tasks for some students
Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it? Some -Learning Objects/Scootle
Challenges: Infrastructure (network), Guaranteed access to computers
Opportunities:Extend more able students, help with behaviour management
What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times?
4 times per week
Challenges:
Opportunities:
Task 1.1b: Who are your students, and what do they need?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support?
All three
Challenges:
.Producing teaching which enables lower ability students to learn while keeping gifted students challenged and interested
Opportunities:
In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future? Related to real life problems
Challenges: .
Opportunities:
What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity?
Same age, approx half male, half female, race/ethnicity not really relevent
Challenges:
Opportunities:
What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home?
99%
Challenges:
Opportunities: Can access technology resources from home
Task 1.1c: What is the support structure for your course?
Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Are you the default computer troubleshooter, or do students and staff have other support people to turn to if they run into difficulty with a computer problem related to your course? No, The students have access to other support people.
Challenges:
Opportunities:
Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students? very limited
Challenges:
Opportunities: